In 2014, at least 40 veterans died while waiting for care at the Phoenix VA healthcare system. They were stuck on a so-called secret wait list for care. Thousands of veterans around the country thought they had the assurance of Veterans’ Affairs that they would have an appointment for both primary and specialty care within 14 days. However, that promise was not upheld, and during a Veterans’ Affairs Committee investigation in the 113th Congress, we found that VA’s officials deliberately acted to create two separate lists.
First, a falsified list showed that VA was providing timely appointments to veterans, which Phoenix VA officials sent to VA’s headquarters in Washington to show compliance with wait time standards. And then there was the actual list, which had thousands of veterans waiting over a year in some cases for their earned healthcare appointments. The largest integrated healthcare system in the country was lying, and lives were being put at risk. As leaders of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs at the time, we knew we had a problem to fix with legislative action that would ensure veterans — and their families — could trust VA to deliver the care we expected them to.
That mission did not end with Phoenix. The reforms Congress enacted over the past decade dramatically expanded veterans’ access to care, but experience has shown there is still more work to do to ensure veterans receive timely healthcare when and where they need it. The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act represents the next step in fulfilling that bipartisan commitment…